Forget about the world ending and all those rumors about Dec. 21, 2012. The question of the moment is: What will happen on Oct. 26, 2012?
If you guessed that our Maya 2012: Prophecy Becomes History exhibit opens, you’d be correct. See for yourself why the Maya civilization was successful for over three millennia … and find out when (and whether) the world’s actually going to end on that infamous day in December.
Tickets to Maya 2012 also include admission to another new exhibit opening this Friday, Gems of the Medici. So now that we’ve made you a deal you can’t refuse, don’t. Buy your tickets and find out whether we’ll all make it to 2013.
To celebrate our new Planetarium Show 2012: Mayan Prophecies, we are testing your knowledge of the significant Maya date of December 21, 2012. How much do you know about this important day?
Are these statements TRUE or FALSE?
1. Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of the longest Mayan time cycle.
2. The Aztecs knew about 2012.
3. In 2012, solar storms will burn the surface of the Earth.
4. Dec 21, 2012 is a significant celestial date.
5. The Maya used the 26,000-year precession cycle to predict events in 2012.
6. There will be a cataclysmic event in 2012.
7. An impending pole shift will tear the Earth apart in 2012.
8. There is a special alignment of the sun in front of the Milky Way galaxy on Dec. 21, 2012.
9. A rogue planet, such as Nibiru or Eris or Planet X, is going to destroy the Earth in 2012.
10. A geomagnetic reversal in 2012 will devastate the planet.
11. A “global awakening” is coming in 2012, leading to a societal transformation.
12. The Earth will pass through the Galactic plane.
1. Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of the longest Mayan time cycle.
TRUE: Dec. 21, 2012 is the beginning of the 13th Baktun in the Maya Long Count. This is a day of celebration, much like Jan. 1, 2000 was for us.
2. The Aztecs knew about 2012.
FALSE: There is no archeological evidence that 2012 was significant to any other MesoAmerican civilization.
3. In 2012, solar storms will burn the surface of the Earth.
FALSE: A massive solar storm could take out a satellite, but cannot reach Earth’s surface. Also sunspot maximum will occur in 2013.
4. Dec 21, 2012 is a significant celestial date.
TRUE: Every year, December 21 is the winter solstice when the sun makes its lowest trip across the sky in the Northern Hemisphere.
5. The Maya used the 26,000-year precession cycle to predict events in 2012.
FALSE: The Maya may have observed slow changes in the sky due to precession, but this cycle was never recorded.
6. There will be a cataclysmic event in 2012.
TRUE: There will be volcanic eruptions, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes in 2012 – just like every year on our dynamic planet.
7. An impending pole shift will tear the Earth apart in 2012.
FALSE: The poles wander at a speed of about 1 degree per million years.
8. There is a special alignment of the sun in front of the Milky Way galaxy on Dec. 21, 2012.
TRUE: On the winter solstice, the sun is now in front of a dark rift in the Milky Way band, close to the direction of the Galaxy’s center as it has been for several years.
9. A rogue planet, such as Nibiru or Eris or Planet X, is going to destroy the Earth in 2012.
FALSE: Eris is now beyond Pluto. There is no Planet X. The Babylonian Nibiru was probably Jupiter. The Maya only knew Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
10. A geomagnetic reversal in 2012 will devastate the planet in 2012.
FALSE: Geomagnetic reversals do happen and we may be overdue for one. These take thousands of years to occur and are not destructive.
11. A “global awakening” is coming in 2012, leading to a societal transformation.
TRUE: Well, 2012 is a presidential election year for the United States and for Mexico and the diamond jubilee of the Queen.
12. The Earth will pass through the Galactic plane.
TRUE: The Earth will cross the Galactic Equator, but in about 27 million years.
Come learn more about Maya culture and their calendar in our new Planetarium show, 2012: Mayan Prophecies, open now.
For the last 2 years, the Astronomy Department of the Houston Museum of Natural Science has searched and researched Maya ruins and writings for connections between the Mayan calendar and the ability of Maya astronomers to predict future events.
To record the passage of time, the Maya developed a 260-day ritual cycle, made up of thirteen numbers and twenty names. With this continuous running cycle, they could predict future events like the harvesting of crops and the birth of children. The Maya kept a second 365-day solar calendar of 18 months, each lasting 20 days, plus 5 extra days to complete the year. This calendar determined the growing season and the annual return of the rains. For longer time periods the Maya used a 5-number Long Count. On December 21st, 2012, for instance, this Long Count has a new beginning as the date changes from 12.19.19.17.19 to 13.0.0.0.0. This is similar to the change from 1999 to 2000 in our modern calendar and is the cause of much 2012 speculation.
Great Temples
The homeland of the Maya stretches from southern Mexico to northern Central America. Our new planetarium show, 2012: Mayan Prophecies (Now Showing!), explores the great Maya cities of Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Tikal, and Palenque. For survival, the Maya created these great urban centers to store rainwater through the dry season and built observatories to determine when the annual rains would begin.
The Castillo pyramid in Chichen Itza is a temple to the feathered serpent god Kukulcan. Each of its 4 staircases has 91 steps for 364 steps in all with a top step into the temple – one step for each day of the year. According to legend, Kukulcan returns to his pyramid on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, descending the staircase in an undulating shadow.
In the nearby Caracol observatory, astronomers watched Kukulcan, who appeared in the heavens as the planet Venus. Through motions of the brilliant Venus, they determined the will of Kukulcan and the time for human sacrifices to honor this sky god and give thanks for the rains he would soon send.
Tikal
The Maya carved the great city of Tikal out of the rain forest in the lowlands of modern Guatemala. In this city of up to 100,000, all water came from the sky. Tikal’s rulers cleared the rain forest, channeled the water in swamps to grow crops, and built cisterns and catch basins to store water during the rainy season. Tikal’s power depended on storing enough water to last until the rains returned each spring.
Five giant pyramids helped astronomers predict when the rainy season would begin. On December 21, for instance, astronomers on Temple 4 could watch the sun rise farthest to the south, over the Pyramid of the Jaguar Priest. From this date forward, they knew that the sun would rise a little more to the north each day. At the vernal equinox, the sun would always rise over Temple 1, an event that must happen before the rains could begin.
Palenque
In the foothills of Mexico’s southern mountains, lies the Maya city of Palenque. Blessed with abundant rain and flowing rivers, the artisans of Palenque had time to create some of the most elaborate and exquisite Mayan art and the most delicate of buildings. Here inscriptions describe the beginning of the Maya long count cycle and chronicle events far into the future, but no mention of 2012.
There has been a subtle change in the sky in the 1,300 years since the time of the classic Maya. Due to the wobble of Earth’s spin axis, different stars rise with the sun in each season.
For instance, at the time of the Maya, the glowing Milky Way band was above the sun at sunrise on the winter solstice. Now in December, the sun reaches its lowest point at noon in front of a dark rift in the Milky Way, near the direction of the galaxy’s center.
Does this mean that galactic forces are now aligned? Did the Maya predict this alignment? We have no data to indicate that the Maya recognized the 26,000-year cycle that caused this alignment. There is no documented connection between the Earth-centered Maya cosmos and our modern universe.
Classic Maya civilization did experience a great apocalypse, but it occurred long before the Spanish Conquest.
For over a millennium, the major cities of the Maya have stood abandoned – deserted by their citizens, conquered by weather and reclaimed by the rainforest. At their culture’s height, many of the Maya faced the worst drought in thousands of years. It devastated a civilization that had cut down the rainforest to grow crops and destroyed urban centers that could not store enough water for their people. In less than a hundred years, over a hundred thousand Maya disappeared, leaving their parched cities and their withered fields, rejecting the divine right and Earthly power of their kings. By the thousands they returned to the rainforest and mountains to a sustainable population and way of life.
As we sense the fragility of our own culture today, we may discover a warning for 2012 in the ruins of these great Maya cities — silent sentinels, witnesses of the apocalypse of the Maya.
Explore pyramids towering above the rainforest, designed as observatories to follow the sun. Experience the apocalypse of the Maya and discover how our fate in 2012 may be foretold in our new planetarium show 2012: Mayan Prophecies. Check out the extended preview below!
In upcoming movies (yes, plural), we are foretold the end of the world, set to happen in 2012. One trailer shows graphic images of massive tidal waves crashing over the Himalayas, wiping out all life on the planet. If one scans late night TV programs (think along the lines of preachers who come on in the wee hours of the morning) as well as the internet, you will find a great variety of references to this date and the impending doom associated with it.
Why? What in the world is this all about?
Many people think the Maya predicted the world to end in 2012.
I see two things going on here: hype and reality. There is a huge disconnect between the two. Let’s start with reality: timekeeping in the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans. Then we will address the fantasy world that has been built on top of that historical reality.
Among the Prehispanic, or Pre-Columbian people of the Americas, the ancient Maya were accomplished astronomers. Unlike us, the Maya had a different perception of time. They considered time passing in terms of cycles, we think of it as a never-ending linear progression of days growing into weeks, months, years, etc. With the Maya, time was counted in units of twenty, a trait they shared with other Pre-Columbian people in Mesoamerica. Moreover, the Maya also kept track of time for various purposes. Sometimes they counted the days for purely practical purposes, such as when to plant and harvest crops and sometimes they used the calendar for ritual purposes.
Aztec calendar stone on display at the
American Museum of Natural History, NY. photo credit: admiretime
Before we go any further, we need to acknowledge that in addition to the number 20, the number 13 was also extremely important to Precolumbian people, including the ancient Maya. We see the importance of thirteen reflected in the fact that they recognized no less than thirteen levels in heaven. Keep these two numbers in mind: 13 and 20. They will come back often further down.
Before we talk about the Maya calendars, we need to take a closer look at the basic units that they used to count time. The basic unit was a day, or kin. Maya specialists have identified up to eight additional (and much larger) increments of time, for a total of nine orders of time periods. The next level of day keeping was that of twenty days, or uinal. The third order – named tun – should be comprised of 400 days, but this is where the Maya introduced the “exception to the rule.” The tun consisted of 360 days (18 times 20 rather than 20 times 20). After that, no more exceptions and so we have:
20 tuns = 1 katun, or 7,200 days
20 katuns = 1 baktun, or 144,000 days
20 baktuns = 1 pictun, or 2,880,000 days
20 pictuns = 1 calabtun, or 57,600,000 days
20 calabtuns = 1 kinchiltun, or 1,152,000,000 days
20 kinchiltuns = 1 alautun, or 23,040,000,000 days.
These numbers are enough to make one’s head spin. Suffice it to say that they reflect an awareness among Maya timekeepers of what we would call “deep time.” That in itself is interesting. They were not just happy-go-lucky, carpe diem types hanging out in the rainforest.
There were two calendrical cycles in use when the Spanish arrived on the scene, now almost 500 years ago: one cycle was 260 days long (referred to as Tzolkin) and a 365 day cycle (known as Haab).
The origins for the 260 day cycle remain unknown. Some have suggested that it represents the human gestational cycle; others think it is the result of multiplying two numbers important to Pre-Columbian people (13 and 20). There are thirteen Maya heavens; and, as mentioned earlier, they count in units of 20. It is therefore conceivable that they came up with a calendar round combining these two numbers. We have evidence that the 260 day cycle goes back as far 500 BC and very likely goes back in time even further. It is also important to know that this calendar is still in use among some of the Maya communities today, among them the Cakchiquel Maya in the Guatemalan highlands.
The 260 day calendar served a ceremonial purpose; it was the basis for prophesies. One’s birthday was recorded by this calendar and the deity associated with your birthday became closely associated with that person’s destiny. This calendar of 260 days was not divided into what we would call months; rather it was made up of a sequence of 260 days with each day identified by attaching a number of one to thirteen to one of the twenty Maya day names.
The second calendar, comprising 365 days, appears very similar to our own solar calendar. We add a day every four years to account for the fact that year is actually 365 days, 5 hours and 48 minutes long. The Maya arrived at their 365 days by coming up with 18 months (each 20 days long) and by adding 5 days at the end, for a total of 365 days. These five final days are known as Uayeb and were, in general, considered to be bad luck days.
Page of an Aztec manuscript,
the Codex Borbonicus, a divinatory almanac.
The two calendrical systems intertwined to form a “calendar round.” The Maya referred to a day by the number and name it had within the 260 day calendar and its number and month name within the 365 day calendar. To enable us to grasp this potentially confusing concept, quite often these two calendars and the interaction between them is represented graphically as a set of meshing calendar wheels. Because the two calendars are of different length, a day will receive a particular name only every 52 years. You can think of this unit of time – 52 years – as the Maya equivalent of our century. The end of such a 52 year cycle was celebrated by all known Mesoamerican civilizations, among them the Maya and the Aztec. The Aztec had ceremonies aimed at pleasing the gods as one such 52 year cycle came to an end, in the hopes of ensuring that another cycle would follow. We do not know if the ancient Maya shared this belief. What we can say is that most people would not have had any use for a calendrical cycle longer than 52 years, as that was probably the upper limit of a human life in those days.
The priests, however…they were a different matter. They did count days over enormous spans of time, and this is how in this story we start to get closer to the doomsday hoopla scenario surrounding the year 2012.
El Castillo, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico photo credit: kyle simourd
The Maya stand out from other Mesoamerican cultures in that they also had a third way of reckoning time. We refer to it as the Long Count, with encompasses cycles each 5128 years long (with each cycle representing thirteen baktun cycles). We know that this system of counting deep time was in use, and used on carved stone monuments, from approximately 36 BC to 909 AD in our calendar. For most of those years, these dates appear on Maya monuments.
The dates that appear on Maya monuments refer to this Long Count system. Maya inscriptions listing events, names and places would place these within the context of how many days had elapsed since the start of the current 5128 year cycle. The current great cycle was thought to have started in 3114 BC. It will end 5128 years later in…. the year 2012.
And this is where the reality ends and the hype starts.
What does it mean, or, what did it mean to the ancient Maya, that the current cycle of time will come to an end in 2012, December 21, according to most movie scripts? Honestly? It means nothing at all. A new cycle will start and we will have more hype coming to a movie theater near you in another 5128 years, in the year 7140 AD.
My advice would be not to max out your credit cards, or do any other irresponsible things. Do not let these hucksters misrepresent the past; let them wallow in their ignorance. Some sources already got it right. As for us, I hope that you will join me in appreciating and marveling at the Maya’s ability to count time well beyond the horizon.
That is the real story and that is worth remembering.
Forget about the world ending and all those rumors about Dec. 21, 2012. The question of the moment is: What will happen on Oct. 26, 2012?
